New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-06-04
TIE GOVERNOPS BAD PE1SONS.


In his veto of the Vedder biz Governor Hill
wrote 'No good reason can be urged why
one locality granting a number of licenses
should be compelled to share with another To-
cality or with the State at large any portion
Of the public tax imposed on account of the
granting Of such licenses But excellent
reasons can be urged, and here is one Of them.
There are today in the State prisons of New
York 5000 criminals OF these 1000 como
from the cities of New York and Brooklyn.
To the making of these 1000 criminals the
saloons Of New York and Brooklyn have con
tributed largely. There is therefore the
strongest reason why the cities which furnish
two thirds Of the convicts to the State prisons
should share with the State at largo part Of
the revenue derived from the saloons. At
present the State at large is called upon to
pay far more than it's equitable proportion Of
the expenses of the prisons. Convicts are
made in Newly ork and Brooklyn by the rum
sellers and the State must support them. Docs
that strike Governor Hill as being '3just
principle Of taxation If New York is to
receive the whole local revenue from licenses
it must follow that she should bear the entire
burden of the criminals her saloons are so
largely responsible for making
The Governor has this other bad argument
AS well might Ii be proposed 10 pay the
license fees for hacks, carts, places Of amuse-
ment, sidewalk permits and all other fees for
privileges of like character into the State
Treasury, instead of the municipal treasury
as TO attempt TO do what this bill proposes. :"
Here the analogy Is false There Is no paral-
lei between the cases sought to be compared.
The saloons represent great social evil. They
constitute the most actively ,mischevous
agency in modern society. They operate
to produce crime pauperism and disease,
bodily and mental. The evil they do spreads
everywhere 1t cannot be confined to 10
calty. The centres Of population are the foci
Of the liquor traffic. 1t is in these centres that
tho worst mischief is done, and thence dc
moralization extends over the State No such
considerations apply to the other subjects Of
license tax named by the Governor. None Of
tho latter are harmful None have other
than purely local relations. The truth is that
hauor taxation resembles no other. for the
obvious reason that the liquor traffic resembles
no other, and Governor Hills attempt to
bolster up his lame veto by such comparisons
will not bear analysis.
ii Is curious that the Governor should refer
to the new Pennsylvania license law as though
he thought that it presented favorable con.
trast TO the Vedder bill. II shows how little
no had really examined the latter. He OBJ
serves that "even under the recently enacted
law OF Pennsylvania 1t Is required that four
fifths Of the revenue derived from lquor
license taxes shall be paid into the local
treasures -, end he goes on TO say "But the
proposed law is not modelled after the statutes
Of other States" Perhaps not, but there IS
room to believe that the Pennsylvania law is
modelled after the yedder bill For the latter
would in effect have given TO New York nearly
four hfths Of the license tax paid by tho sa-
looms of the city, which is inst what the
Pennsylvania statute docs. The Governor
makes no reference TO the fact that the bulk